In Simulations and Simulacra, essayist Jean Baudrillard engages in a discourse in what it means to be part of reality today. He argues that we as a society are in essence experiencing the after effects of reality. He terms this the experience of hyper reality. “It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives it.” For film 319 I took an in depth look at Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster, Jurassic Park, and Gordon Douglas’s 1954 film Them and compared these two movie greats in terms of how each presented a disrupted reality and how the directors succeeded in conveying that reality.
In Jurassic Park, genetically engineered dinosaurs escape a specifically designed containment facility during a power outage and additionally are discovered to be breeding outside of the engineer’s knowledge though previously believed to be strictly female; The opening statement itself breaths of a simulation of another reality for several reasons. First of all, humans and dinosaurs obviously would never inhabit the same location, let alone time period, (whether be it over competition for resources or being a food source). These two species were not meant to co-exist.
“The world is changing so fast, and we're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look. Dinosaurs and man... two species separated by 65 million years of evolution, have suddenly been thrown into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea of what to expect?”
Secondly, the majority of the film takes place on an island in the Caribbean, already removed from general society. The island setting is hyperreal in its essence for being so removed and often inhabiting species not found elsewhere, as is the case in Jurassic Park. Additionally, there’s a storm on the way, and Dennis Nedry happens to be on a mission this night to steal precious embryos from the genetics complex. Both of these factors contribute to the remainder of the film to ‘not of your normal everyday’ variety. Combining these factors results in the charging of a reality or situation that would not otherwise exist.
In reality, people only dig up dinosaurs. Doctors Ellie Sattler and Allen Grant are some such types and they are the bridge between the real world, and the simulated world of Jurassic Park. John Hammond lives on the other side; he inhabits a world where dinosaurs can exist. Doctor Ian Malcolm, on the other hand, is important in pointing out this bridge and the paradox it presents: two realities may not exist at the same time if the factors within them are volatile toward each other. This film further contextualizes simulation in a monster movie context by removing the monsters and bringing society to them. Society becomes part of the hyperreal by consenting to be part of the experiment, i.e.: John Hammond’s control group.
Them on the other hand, introduces society to the hyperreality of its experiments. In this film, giant radio-active ants infiltrate the lower southwestern states causing havoc and with the military down there while everyone involved tries to keep things a hushed up as possible. The ants, said to be abominations of nature, are thought to be the result of nuclear testing that occurred in the area around 1945. Since Them takes place nearly ten years later, the creatures would be the manifestation of mutations in earlier generations of its species. As Dr. Medford Sr. proclaims: “We may be witnessing a Biblical prophecy come true - 'And there shall be destruction and darkness come upon creation and the beasts will reign over the earth.'” Nuclear testing was still a nascent science at this point; these people had no idea what they were dealing with.
In this film, the southwest already brings to mind another reality due to its proximity to Hollywood and the movie industry in general. In Simulations and Simulacra, Baudrillard makes a point of indicating that Anaheim CA, also prescribes to this hyperreal recognition by being the birthplace of Disneyland, the granddaddy of all romantic pastiches. The threat of tampering with nuclear elements was new to the public’s conscious, adding to the sense of altered reality. Fear of this unknown was a key element in this time period and the Cold War was going on ten years, which additionally contributed to the sensitivity the nation conveyed in the film would have to its new monstrous enemy. Finally, the presence of women in male roles is conveyed in this film. At this time in history, many male dominated work places were beginning to take on or recognize women in their fields. This strange new development, in addition to the paranoia many men suffered in response to the perceived threat nuclear sickness posed to their reproductive systems, also contributed to the altered state of this reality.
Society in Them has created the hyperreal by engaging in nuclear testing, a field many people at the time knew nothing about. The public then becomes frightened by the results of this reality and searches desperately for a way back to the way things were. These fears are quelled by the good old fashion victory of American military forces over the dangerous ants.
Both of these films were state of the art in their time with regards to special effects. As Telotte writes in his essay on special effects, the arrival of technology that could effectively bring to life things we had just before only imagined was a milestone for the science fiction film.
“The development of special effects has lately been crucial to the form’s development. Although trick photography and image manipulation have always been central to cinema’s fantastic vision- from Melies editing tricks in A Trip to the Moon (1902), to the stop motion animation of The Lost World (1925) to the computer controlled linkage of models and cameras in Star Wars (1977) to the creation of convincing digital dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, computer generated imagery, CGI, is a relatively recent yet also quickly dominant influence on the science fiction film.” (Telotte pg 252)
Curiously enough, The Lost World is one of the primary inspirations for Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Them too dealt with special effects and was noted for its large animatronic versions of the monstrous ants.
Baudrillard say that “the real is produced from miniaturized units, from matrices, memory banks, and command models…” Nowhere is this more true to life than in the artifices of film. Designers and model makers on the sets of Them and Jurassic Park created sensational representations of the creature they were desired to make and in doing so, became part of the hyperreal themselves.
“It no longer has to be relational, since it is no longer measured against some ideal or negative instance. It is nothing more than operational. In fact, since it is no longer enveloped by an imaginary, it is no longer real at all. It is hyperreal.” (Baudrillard pg 170)
Spielberg was one of the forerunners of this age to push on digital technology to help blur the lines differentiating reality from its mirror. These images that skate on light and glass are pastiches, variations of our own histories and experiences. Once these creations meet the light they exist in a reality of their own. A reality we engage in most often with the push of a button.
Bibliography:
Simulacra and Simulation, translated by SF Glaser, J Baudrillard - Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994
Telotte, J.P. A Trajectory of the American Science Fiction Film. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. Pages 116-118
Jurassic Park, 1993, Steven Spielberg
Them, 1954, Gordon Douglas
